Shades of Grey
by Surreal13
Summary: Peter is accused of a terrible crime that leaves him doubting his own sanity. One-shot, complete for now.


**Title: **Shades of Grey  
><strong>Rating: <strong>PG  
><strong>Pairings:<strong> None  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong>None  
><strong>Characters:<strong>Neal, Peter  
><strong>Genre:<strong>Angst  
><strong>Warnings:<strong>Imprisonment of a canon character. Mentions of death of canon characters; Adler (fully canon) and Keller (a happy fantasy for the future). Allusions towards mental and physical abuse. This is not a happy story.  
><strong>Notes:<strong>Written as a comment ficlet for this prompt by **sholio** in **collarcorner**. This turned out so well that I plan on expanding it into a much larger story in the future. For now, it's just a one shot. Expanded from the original post.

* * *

><p>"We're going to get you out of this." The words sound hollow, even to him. If he had been the one sitting in jail, Peter would have demanded to know why he'd been so stupid. He would have pushed at Neal's temper until Neal either told him the truth or Peter would concede that in Neal's world of grey, he'd done what was right. Then he would have done whatever he could to get Neal out. But Neal wasn't the one in prison; Peter was. Neal couldn't even say that Peter hadn't committed the crime he'd been accused of. He had gotten to the scene just a minute too late to see what had gone down. If he had just been there. If he could have warned Peter...if he could have just seen what had happened...<p>

"Thanks," Peter replied. He sounded exhausted, and he didn't look as if he believed for one moment that Neal would be able to do anything to help him. In the two weeks he'd been in prison, he'd dropped quite a bit of weight. Neal worried about that. Neal worried too, that the other prisoners hassled Peter. He was supposed to be under protection, but guards could easily be bribed to "look away" while the others had their fun. There weren't any visible marks on Peter, but that didn't mean anything. Neal pushed the thought away. He couldn't think about that now.

"Don't do anything stupid. Please. We're lucky that Hughes was able to keep you out of prison. Don't jeopardize that." It was the lack of authority in Peter's voice that worried Neal the most. They had been in tight spots before, and never had his partner once looked so defeated. The ashen pallor to his skin and the hopeless slump in his partner's shoulders frightened Neal, and that pissed him off. Neal hated to be scared.

"Hey. Look at me," Neal insisted sharply when Peter wouldn't meet his gaze. Tired brown eyes finally lifted to meet his gaze. "Don't you give up on me. Maddex was a dirty cop. You had to shoot him. We'll find the evidence." _Just hold on. Please hold on._ Neal didn't voice that. It sounded too desperate. He couldn't let Peter see that, not now. He had to be the strong one.

"Neal, the evidence is gone." Peter's voice trailed off and he murmured quietly, more to himself, "Or maybe it was never there." Neal started in surprise. Peter had never faltered in his version of the events that unfolded. Now he was showing cracks. Before Neal could press him on what he was thinking, Peter shook his head and continued.

"Doesn't make sense...There should have been something more at the scene, but there wasn't." Peter fell silent again, mulling over the possibilities. He seemed to be having trouble focusing on his thoughts.

"That means that Maddex wasn't the only one involved." Peter sounded confident, but it slipped away almost instantly as he lowered his voice and confided quietly to Neal. "They think I snapped. The past few years, with the kidnappings, and all that time on probation. And the two shootings in seven months..."

Peter's gaze grew distant, his thoughts obviously sliding towards the deaths of Adler and Keller. He blinked and looked back at Neal, as if he'd just remembered the other man's presence. "To the rest of the world, it looks like a trigger-happy FBI agent murdered an undercover cop. They think I snapped, that the strain became too much..." Peter repeated, and looked away as he hunched his shoulders protectively.

The doubt written on Peter's worn face was like a knife to Neal's heart. He hadn't been there. He hadn't seen it happen. But he did know Peter, perhaps better than anyone else, save for Elizabeth. He knew Peter wasn't capable of murder. As he studied his partner, Neal realized something else, something that made him distinctly uneasy. There was something...off about Peter. Something was very wrong, had been wrong since he'd been incarcerated. What line of crap were the bigwigs feeding Peter, and why did he seem to be buying into it?

_They're doing something to him_ The thought rose, unbidden in his mind. Neal wanted to deny it, but the proof was there in front of him. Peter was practically fading before his eyes. Talking to him was like talking to a shadow. The more he more he reached out for Peter, the farther away he seemed to be. Neal was afraid for the meeting to end, because he didn't know what would be left of Peter after he was gone.

How far up the chain did the corruption go? Neal didn't know, but he was determined to find out. The whole team was, though they were going about it in quiet ways that wouldn't draw attention. They weren't allowed to investigate, of course. Not officially. Any other person in Peter's situation might have been screwed, but Neal knew people. And those people knew people. Somehow, the truth would come out. He just had to keep Peter whole somehow until he could be freed.

"You didn't snap. Peter, you're a good man. I'm not giving up on you," Neal promised. When Peter didn't reply, Neal pushed a little more. "I need you. Who else is going to keep me out of trouble?"

A ghost of Peter's old smile curled his lips. It wasn't much, but for now Neal would accept it. He would get Peter out of here. He had to.

**~fin**


End file.
